


Fe2O3•nH2O  Never Sleeps

by aderyn



Series: Natural Facts [23]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 221b, Gen, oxides & insomnia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-03
Updated: 2012-05-03
Packaged: 2017-11-04 18:24:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/396841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aderyn/pseuds/aderyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of all the things one might get used to, sleep deprivation is by far not the worst. </p>
<p>Sherlock takes him by the gun hand and says,<br/>“Do you think, when we’re old, we’ll be armed?”<br/>“With something, “says John, blinking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fe2O3•nH2O  Never Sleeps

Of all the things one might get used to, sleep deprivation is by far not the worst. Sherlock has insomnia, the best kind; John has nightmares; they have crime; they don’t sleep, so they’re up conjuring, and in the meantime, all around them, the invisible processes go on.

Oxides form in the odd place. Lines of rust round the edges of the sink. Rust in the gunworks if you don’t take care. The finest ring of hex triplet #B7410E round some people’s irises, making a dawn of grey...  

There’s the odd grey hair, lime in their old pipes, in Molly’s voice at the morgue before coffee, in John’s when he says,

“You know, you ought to rest; you know you really ought to...” and before he finishes, Sherlock takes him by the gun hand and says,

“You don't sleep either,” and then,

“Do you think, when we’re old,we’ll be armed?”

“With something," says John, blinking.

And they’re laughing, John’s hands stained with newsprint, Sherlock’s with iodides, and they’re off, tealess, into the streets again.

Later, home again, John thinks for no reason,

_the back of your neck like ash, your mouth like iron._

Sherlock looks at him as though he’s heard, says,

“I don’t need sleep.”

“Nor I.”

“We’ll sleep when we’re old.”

“Right.”

 In every cell, the oxidation beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> They'd rather burn out than fade, right?
> 
> [from Rust Never Sleeps](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cawk2cMTnGo&feature=related)


End file.
